Sen. Kamala Harris of California is among eight U.S. senators calling on Sen. Al Franken to resign.

Photo: Zach Gibson, Bloomberg

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, left, and Gretchen Carlson, former host at Fox News Network LLC, listen during a news conference unveiling bipartisan legislation to prevent sexualSenator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, left, and Gretchen Carlson, former host at Fox News Network LLC, listen during a news conference unveiling bipartisan legislation to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. Seven female U.S. senators called on fellow Democrat Al Franken to resign Wednesday following allegations, and his admission in at least one case, that he groped or sexually harassed women. His office said he will make an announcement on Thursday. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg

When at least three dozen Democratic senators called on fellow Democrat Sen. Al Franken to resign Wednesday, the #MeToo movement hit a powerful milestone by showing that politicians — like people in other walks of life — are able to follow their conscience and call out friends and allies for inappropriate sexual behavior.

“It’s clear the American people don’t look lightly on these kinds of actions, no matter who they’re committed by, and the number of complaints against Sen. Franken is a concern. I think resignation is the right thing for him to do,” California Sen. Dianne Feinstein tweeted Wednesday, joining the state’s other senator, Kamala Harris, in calling for him to leave. Franken, who has been accused of inappropriate touching by six women, has scheduled a major announcement for Thursday.

That said, the Senate Democrats’ move has a politically expedient dimension, too.

“It is monumental that so many Democrats, and so many Democratic women in the Senate, came forward,” said Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University and a leading researcher on gender and politics. “Without the national outcry and all of these other industries calling out their own, it might not have happened.

But Wednesday’s game-changer seems to be largely confined to Democrats.

President Trump, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women, has endorsed Moore, largely because the president doesn’t want an additional Democrat in the Senate. This week, the Republican National Committee reversed its decision not to support Moore.

Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “I believe the women” who accused Moore of misconduct. But in recent days, McConnell has toned down his comments. He now says he would “let the people of Alabama make the call,” as to whether Moore should become a senator.

And even though Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, has admitted using $84,000 in taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment case, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., hasn’t asked Farenthold to resign, noting that the independent Office of Congressional Ethics investigated the claim against Farenthold and dismissed it.

Until Wednesday, politicians typically called for a colleague accused of sexual impropriety to step down only if he were a member of the opposite party. Democrat and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was widely criticized for calling Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., “an icon” when asked about allegations of his sexual impropriety. Days later, Pelosi called for him to resign, and on Tuesday, Conyers said he was retiring.

The Franken situation accelerates the dynamic of holding fellow party members accountable.

The Senate Ethics Committee is investigating allegations by six women that Franken touched them inappropriately. Franken, D-Minn., has apologized while denying that his actions were intentional.

Franken’s repeated apologies weren’t enough for his fellow Democrats, even those he was close to, like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

In a detailed statement on her Facebook page Wednesday, Gillibrand wrote that she was “shocked and disappointed to learn over the last few weeks that a colleague I am fond of personally has engaged in behavior toward women that is unacceptable.”

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York answers a question about her statement on Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., at the end of a news conference on sexual harassment in the workplace on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

However, even though she said she has enjoyed working with him “in our shared fights,” Gillibrand wrote: “This moment of reckoning about our friends and colleagues who have been accused of sexual misconduct is necessary and it is painful. We must not lose sight that this watershed moment is bigger than any one industry, any one party, or any one person.”

Gillibrand said she has spent a lot of time reflecting on Franken’s behavior.

“Enough is enough,” she wrote. “The women who have come forward are brave, and I believe them. While it’s true that his behavior is not the same as the criminal conduct alleged against Roy Moore or (movie producer) Harvey Weinstein or President Trump, it is still unquestionably wrong and should not be tolerated by those of us who are privileged to work in public service.”

Hearing words like that is important for women who aspire to public office, said Maimuna Syed, executive director of Emerge California, which trains Democratic women to run for office. The organization has seen an 87 percent increase in the number of applications it has received this year; Syed attributes that increase to frustration and anger toward Trump.

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“If we, as a Democratic Party, are going to lead on this issue, we have to be comfortable calling out our own, in addition to calling out the Roy Moores of the world,” Syed said. “We’ve allowed men who harass women to police themselves, and the media has provided cover for them. None of that encourages women to come forward and tell their stories.”

Wednesday’s actions show that the issue has reached a “critical mass of Americans — at least on one side of the spectrum,” said Kim Nalder, director of Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State University, where she is a political science professor. But, she added, “I’m concerned about whether it lasts or not. I’m concerned with a backlash coming.

“At the current moment we don’t have a sense of proportionality, even though Harvey Weinstein’s actions are far worse than Al Franken’s. All we have is this zero-tolerance reaction. There’s not a scale established where at 100 on the scale you lose your job and at 10, you get scolded.”